- President Donald Trump's former lead lawyer, John Dowd, complained about sharks in a recent letter he wrote to the editor of a local newspaper in Cape Cod.
- An increased number of seals in the Cape has caused the population of great white sharks in the area to rise dramatically over the past decade, according to experts.
- "The glorification of these dangerous predators in Chatham is reckless and a threat to the future of this beautiful community," Dowd wrote.
President Donald Trump's former lead attorney, John Dowd, now has a new target: great white sharks.
Dowd, who left the White House in March after going toe-to-toe with special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, argued against the "glorification" of the sharks in a letter to the editor of The Cape Cod Chronicle on August 30. In the letter, he urged local authorities in Cape Cod, Massachusetts to take action against their presence.
Shark experts in Massachusetts say an increased number of seals on the Cape has caused the population of great white sharks in the area to rise dramatically over the past decade. The first known shark attack on a human in six years was reported in August after a man was hospitalized in Truro.
"I swim in oyster pond twice a day, but not any more," Dowd wrote in the letter. "We have seals in the swimming area. The seals need to be regularly harvested to stop the current problem and to end the era of the shark which is scaring visitors."
Dowd's letter responded to an earlier editorial which argued that the fear of sharks on Cape Cod was overblown, and that feeding on seals, who are natural prey for great whites, should not be construed as "attacks," but rather completely normal behavior for sharks.
"I recently took a trip to Martha's Vineyard. Newport, Block Island and Nantucket. They have no seal or shark problem," Dowd added. "The glorification of these dangerous predators in Chatham is reckless and a threat to the future of this beautiful community."
But conservation experts say shark attacks on humans are extremely rare and usually accidental. On average, sharks kill 6 people a year.
"... Sharks are not known to target people specifically, and when they do bite people, it's usually a case of mistaken identity," the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy said earlier this summer. "Sharks 'test the waters' with their teeth, much like we use our hands. It's how they determine if what they encounter is prey or something to avoid."